Multiplayer II Summary

This is an overview comparing Multiplayer II to Multiplayer. It is a detail of changes made to the original Multiplayer ruleset, as made to the first release of MP2, the Multiplayer II Avant-garde version and the (slightly updated) Multiplayer II Brava version.

For someone familiar with Civ II or Multiplayer 1.0, this page provides a summary of the changes to the Multiplayer II ruleset. See below for links to more recent versions of MP2.

How to play

Multiplayer II is currently available to play on the web at freecivweb.org.

• In the NEW GAME launch page, click GAME button >> Ruleset >> Multiplayer 2.1 Avant-garde or Multiplayer 2.2 Brava
• In the NEW GAME launch page console, type:
  • /rules mp2-ag
  • /rules mp2-brava

Quick Jump: Summary of all changes

Current MP2 Links

• See Multiplayer II Navigation Page for access to all MP2 documents, including the later versions.

Introduction

Multiplayer-Evolution ("MP2") are the newest rulesets in the Multiplayer-branch. They take advantage of new features and improvements in Freeciv 3.x server in order to create a radically improved and modernized completion to the MP ruleset branch. MP2 greatly improves: balance, strategic diversity, tactical depth, early-game Sea units, and late-game Air units. Over a five year period, many contributors vetted and balanced upgrades whose aim was to faithfully follow the principles in the MP2 Manifesto. The short version of those principles is: improve balance and increase playability, strategic diversity and depth, creativity, realism, fun, and overall richness. Enjoy!

Summary of all changes:

• Important Note: Each item below links to the full details in the Design Log.
• Listed changes are present in both Multiplayer II Avant-Garde and Multiplayer II Brava unless marked as Brava only.
• You can click particular items to read verbose details of changes, reasons, and balance effects.

Tech

1. Tech costs equalize pace of discovery for all game stages.
2. Tech holes closed
3. Darwin's Voyage is now similar to Colossus.
4. No Philosophy bonus after Banking, Invention, Physics, or T85.
5. Space Flight gives a Satellite Vision Bonus to cities and units.
6. Space Race tuned as a viable game option
7. Electricity removes Fog of War inside your own borders
8. Horseback Riding before 2500 BC creates traveler's tales.

Governments

1. Fundamentalism upgraded for better balance, viability, fitness, and distinctive character.
2. Communism upgraded for better balance, viability, fitness, and distinctive character.
3. Foreign nationals added. Foreign citizens are unhappy if you are at war with their home nation, but assimilate to your nationality over time.

Units

1. Vision:Movement ratio fixed for 2× movement: starts at 1.4:2 then is 2:2 after Physics discovered.
2. Restrictinfra server setting makes enemy rails act only like roads.
3. Railroad move speed changed to 9×. MagLevs available with Superconductors for unlimited moves.
4. Non-military Bribe cost fixed to work on all non-military units. 
5. Land units on mountains get +1 vision.
6. Nuclear Missiles get 24 moves. They come with later tech (Space Flight), to replace the Atom Bomb.
7. Knights defend at 3 against mounted units and do not kill city population.
8. Legions can build fortresses; and they can build roads inside bases and on non-domestic tiles.
9. Archers can do a (limited) Range Attack.
10. Armor: no penalty vs. Fort; 1.67× vs Fortress. Plastics upgrades to Armor II: Cost: 80. A16 D6 FP1. Moves:6; no penalty from Fort/Fortress, 2× defense against Missiles, never attack-blocked by unreachable units.
11. No bribe/sabotage on Air and Missile units.
12. “OneAttack” flag deprecated since version 2.3 onward had made it even more dysfunctional. 
13. Air Units make no ZoC over adjacent tiles. (2) Non-Fighter Air units do not protect units on the same tile.
14. Para-drop for Paratroopers adjusted to 2× area coverage: 14 range.
15. Marines now have realistic multipurpose role: can attack sea units & bypass air units. Improved vet status.
16. Escort Fighters added. Cost: 80. A3 D5 FP2. Moves:18. Fuel: 2 turns.
17. Medium Bombers added. Cost: 85. A7 D2 FP2. Moves:15. Fuel: 2 turns.
18. Bomber renamed 'Heavy Bomber'. Cost: 120. A12 D3 FP2. Moves:16. Fuel: 2 turns. Strategic Bomber available with Rocketry. Cost: 135. A13 D4 FP2. Moves:16. Fuel: 3 turns.
19. Anti-aircraft Artillery added. Cost: 50. A2 D2 HP20 FP2. Moves:2. 2× Anti-Air bonus.
20. Mobile SAM added. Cost: 75. A2 D2 FP2 HP30. Moves: 6. 2× Anti-Air bonus.
21. Air units can "air lift themselves". 
22. Balloon added. Cost: 25. A0 D0 M5 Fuel: 2 turns. 
23. Jet Fighter added. Cost: 70. A6 D5 FP2 M24. Requires: Space Flight. 
24. Jet Bomber added. Cost: 145. A15 D1 FP2 M19 Fuel: 3 turns. Can Pillage. Requires: Space Flight. 
25. Stealth Aircraft improved. Stealth Bomber gets +1 attack (A19), SAM Battery only 25% bonus against Stealth. 
26. Spies cost 35 (was 30.) 

Project Poseidon: Glorifying the Ancient Seas

1. Combat Rounds - Ancient ships have 15 combat rounds.
2. River-worthy ships. Most ancient ships can travel on rivers.

(Many new units and adjustments to introduce real ancient navies. Click for full info.)

Project Neptune: Modern Naval Rebalance

1. “CanEscape” for Air+Sea units. 50% chance to escape Killstack if defender has more moves than attacker. 
2. Major Naval Re-balance. Click link to see changes. Game Manual and in-game manual have all specifics.
3. Warships from Ironclad onward can pillage buoys.
4. min_speed Adjustment. From Ironclad onward, min_speed of damaged ships is 3 (was 2.)
5. Crew Repair Bonus. Ships receive 8% healing every turn (rounded down), regardless of moving/resting.

Wonders

1. Pyramids: Cost: 160. Added Classic effect of +25% food storage in every city to its existing effect.
2. Copernicus' Observatory Cost: 100.
3. Great Wall. Cost: 275. Obsolete by discovery of Machine Tools by anyone. New cities experience a delay.
4. Great Library renamed Supreme Court -- still acts as an extra Courthouse in all cities. Cost: 200. 
5. Hanging Garden gains +2 luxury to the home city it's built in. Cost: 200.
6. Colossus obsolete by Automobile, not Flight. Cost: 100.
7. Lighthouse: Cost: 170. +2 moves, +1 vision, obsolete by Miniaturization.
8. Adam Smith's Trading Company: now enables 3 new specialists: Laborer, Farmer, Merchant. Cost: 300.
9. Michelangelo's Chapel: Same as before; but also adds a bonus effect of +1 happy +1 forced content to Cathedrals. -1 effect from Communist government (instead of Communism tech.)
10. Ecclesiastical Palace added from Civ2civ3. Creates a second Palace and capital. Cost: 110.
11. Temple of Artemis added. Cost 250. +1 gold,luxury,bulb,shield in all cities.
12. Mausoleum of Mausolus added. Cost: 200. In each city, +1 content for each Courthouse or City Walls.
13. Statue of Zeus added. Cost: 100. +1 content from military in each city, +1 happy/+4 upkeep in home city.
14. Genghis Khan's Equestrian School Cost:150. +1mv to mounted units (not Cavalry). Obs.: Mobile Warfare.
15. Tesla's Laboratory added. Cost: 200. 1 obsolete unit upgrades per turn. Does not go obsolete.
16. Gibraltar Fortress added. Cost: 350. Coastal Defense in every city.
17. Agōgē of Sparta added. Cost: 100. +⅓ move, all foot soldiers. (+1 if they begin their turn in the city with the Agōgē.) +50% attack to Phalanx, Pikemen.

Buildings

1. Courthouse a. Cost 45. a. Corruption reduction=60% (fixes bad rounding) b. 1 free unit upkeep (law and order bonus) c. Gives ⅛ bonus vs diplomatic combat; Decreases hostile diplomatic odds by 20%. d. Cancels tile penalties in Anarchy & Despotism.
2. Granary Cost 35. Slight aid to non-rapture governments.
3. Mass Transit: Cost 60, +2T. Recycling Center: 70 shields, +2P.
4. Police Station. Cost 50, gives ⅛ bonus vs diplomatic combat, and -20% to hostile diplomatic acts. Prevents enemies from creating "hostile" embassy without first agreeing to cease-fire, armistice, or peace. Gives +1 vet level to diplomatic units.
5. Palace makes +1 happy citizen.
6. Homeland Security - enabled by Supreme Court, completes the bonuses against diplomatic actions in a city.

Miscellaneous

1. Project Honeycomb: Traderoutes radically altered and brought back.
2. Diplomacy Improved Cease-fire and Peace pacts allowed within x turns of meeting a player.
3. Resource “Gold” set to 0/1/8. (Formerly it had the lowest F/P/T score of all resources.)
4. Terrain return. Non-temperate terrain returns to the game with re-balanced resource values.
5. Oasis is a water source for irrigation. b) "Nile Effect" gives +1 food on irrigated desert rivers.
6. Illegal Action movement penalty removed.
7. Swamp Transform to Ocean is now 12 worker-turns (was 36). 
8. Grassland Transform to Hills is now 15 worker-turns (was 12).
9. The Well-digger is a "patch" unit for nations with no nearby water at game start.
10. Engineering allows the Canal tile improvement. Its only effect is letting ships pass through.
11. Caravans/Freight can build Foreign Wonders.
12. Helicopters. Can use Fortresses to rest/repair. City Walls give no bonus vs Heli (SAM Battery does.) Not a field unit.
13. Most military units are able to expel most foreign non-military units from your nation.
14. Many military units are able to capture certain types of foreign units.
15. Steal Map Fragments, a new Freeciv feature, is included for Diplomats and Spies.
16. Maximum Granary Food Store capped at 70.
17. Terrain Defense Exploits Adjusted. Forest/Swamp/River 1.33× defense. Can't make forest/hills in existing cityDesign Log.mp2#14. Fort added. Defense bonuses smoothed
18. Fort added & bonuses adjusted. Fort requires Masonry: 1.33× against Land/Sea except Armor. Fortress requires an existing Fort. 2× against Land/Sea except Armor. 1.66× against Air/Helicopter/Missile/Armor.
19. Naval Base added. 2× defense and +20% healing for Sea units. In all other respects, same as Fortress.
20. Timeline changed. In-game year matches pace of the game.
21. Incite cost changed. Goes from impossible to extremely high but theoretically possible.
22. Huts re-balanced as a usable option. Goes from wild game-changing luck to a strategic early game resource.
23. Minor / Miscellaneous - List of small or insignificant changes.

Avant-Garde MP2

These changes apply to the 2.1 version of MP2, named "Avant-Garde" /rules mp2-ag

1. By default, zoc_purity is enabled. Units who ignore ZoC don't give this ability to units who don't ignore it.
2. Quays. A quay is a river improvement. It is a road-type available with Pottery. Stepping in takes 1 move point. Stepping out behaves the same as a road. (Quays require Pottery. Build-time: 2 worker-turns. Like bridges and railroads, it auto-upgrades inside cities when you get the tech.)
   • Ships can Unload Transport (T) in a quay. Units unloaded this way can use adjacent roads with no unload-penalties.
   • Moves needed to cross a river to a tile on the other side:
     • No infrastructure = 2.00 moves = 6/3 moves
     • Quay connected to roads = 1.33 moves = 4/3 moves
     • Bridge connected to roads = 0.67 moves = 2/3 moves
3. Canals. Can now be built adjacent to river and ocean. This allows connecting water traffic between rivers and oceans.
4. Unload Transport (T)
   • Now works in Naval Bases and Quays, without loss of all moves (was Cities only)
   • Can now be used on any tile for Marines-type units (Marines, AAA).
5. Hideouts are a new Base available with Warrior Code. Hideouts can be put in Forests, Swamps, Mountains, and Jungle, but not in someone else’s territory. Only Foot soldiers can make Hideouts. All Land units and Helicopters can hide in them. Other types will be seen. Hideouts are invisible to anyone not occupying the tile. For each turn it is empty, a Hideout has a 15% chance of disappearing. The only way to see a Hideout is to have a unit on it. Hideouts can't stack with other base types. Build time: 1.5 worker-turns
   • The hideouts setting defaults to enabled, but can be disabled in server settings.
6. New techs
   •  Radar:
     • Is the new tech requirement for AWACS and Heavy Bomber
     • Allows city improvement: Radar Tower. Increases city vision approximately +6 tiles.
     • Allows Engineers to build Radar tile improvement on top of Airbase. Increases vision +3 to +4 tiles.
   • Avionics:
     • Is the new tech requirement for Jet Fighter
     • Is the tech requirement for Ground Strike Fighter (see New Units, below.)
7. Conscription allows you to potentially increase the limit on cities making only 1 unit per turn
   • Additional units must be infantry or caravans.
   • Each of the following adds +1 to the limit:
     • Capital city ◦ Factory ◦ MFG Plant ◦ Fusion Reactor ◦ King Richard’s Crusade
   • The city still needs enough shield output to complete multiple units..
8. Labor Union changes upkeep on Infantry types from 1 shield to 1 gold.
9. Nuclear changes
   • nukes_minor server setting allows completely disallowing any and every type of nuke.
   • Atom Bomb is a weaker nuke, and only kills 4 cardinally adjacent tiles.
   • Nuclear Missile kills all 8 adjacent tiles.
   • Fusion Power enables: Fusion Reactor, cost 200. +75% base production, 5 free upkeep.
     • if nukes_major server setting is set ON, allows Enrichment Facility for making fusion nukes.
       • Tactical Nuke: a missile which only nukes a single targeted tile.
       • Hydrogen Bomb: blast area is 21 tiles: the same as a city's workable tile radius.
         • Population reduction is 75%, not 50%.
       • Doomsday Bomb: blast area covers approximately 100 tiles.
         • Completely eliminates all population at ground zero
         • 75% population reduction elsewhere.
10. Wonders
    1. Great Wall.
       •  Cities do not get Great Wall protection until the third turn after the founding of the city.
       • A city must have less than one fifth foreign citizens before Great Wall protects it. (represents time to extend the Great Wall.)
    2. Tesla's Laboratory costs 20 shields more and gives 20% gold discount on upgrades.
    3. King Richard's Crusade - gives the "Conscription Bonus" of making more than one unit per turn without needing Conscription tech..
    4. JTIDS is a new Wonder. Infantry units get +1 vet level. Odds of promotion are increased.
11. Police Station
    • unchanged: keeps the new “secret police” bonus for spies. (+1 vet level)
12. Unit Changes
    1. Fighter types can Vigil - orders them to auto-attack adjacent units if:
       • The other unit is an airplane type, Paratrooper, or Transport Helicopter.
       • The Fighter has better odds to win by attacking instead of defending
       • The Fighter is not the only unit defending a city
       • The Fighter has been ordered to Vigil
       • Move limits for Vigil: Fighter 2. Escort Fighter, Jet Fighter: 3. Stealth Fighter: 4.
    2. Helicopter
       • unreachable to Artillery types
       • 50% defense bonus when attacked by foot soldiers (Riflemen, Marines, Paratroopers, etc.)
       • "vitality" adjustments:
         • +1 move when starting turn in a city or airbase.
         • Loses 1hp per turn instead of 2hp.
         • 21 hp = “gets one free turn in the air”
       • City Walls don't give defense bonus against Helicopters. SAM Batteries do.
    3. Medium Bomber
       • available with Advanced Flight. (Heavy Bomber moved to the new tech "Radar")
       • the later availability allows this unit to be more effective:
         • upgraded from 6A 13 moves, to 7A 15 moves.
       • "Soft Field Unit".  causes 1 less discontent citizen when non-aggressively deployed.
    4. Carrier
       • Costs 155 and carries 9.  (Was 160 and C:8)
    5. Anti-Aircraft Artillery
       • gains the "TransportDefender" flag: able to defend while transported, even on ocean tiles.
13. New Units
    1. Transport Helicopter. This helicopter can't attack, but carries 3 land units (see restrictions in the helptext.)
    2. Dive Bomber A3 D3 18M. Exerts ZoC. +50% attack vs non-air, +33% defense vs. Anti-Air.
    3. Ground Strike Fighter upgrades Dive Bomber. A7 D4 21M Fuel:2. 33% defense vs. Anti-Air.
14. Communism
    • pays 10 less for Dive Bomber
    • pays 5 less for Riflemen.
15. Supreme Court
    • no longer gives bonus against hostile diplomats, but enables Homeland Security building which does.
16. Casus Belli - Casus belli is now triggered for:
    • Poison water, Pillage tiles, Capture unit
    • International incident for detonating nuclear devices -- allows any nation to cancel its treaties with you.

Minor / miscellaneous:

1. anti-Diplomatic bonuses for Courthouse, Police Station, Homeland Security are identical and stack together.
2. Diplomat vet bonuses are improved and better balanced.
3. Airbases heal Air units +15% per turn (was 0%).
4. Fanatic upkeep for non-fundamentalist governments is higher.
5. Starting commerce Units: (1) Can be given a Home City for Trade Routes, (2) Have no tech restrictions for Build Wonder.
6. The +1/9 "ultra-elite move bonus" for v4+ vet levels starts to take effect in v3 Marines, since v3 is when Commando bonus begins.

Brava MP2

These changes apply to the 2.2 version of MP2, named "Brava" /rules mp2-brava

1. New unit: Tribesmen. A0 D1 HP5. Req:None (game start unit)
   • allows more early exploration
   • allows (weak) city defense
   • primary use is for disbanding to supply bonus shields to accelerate the early game.
2. New unit: Spy Plane upgrades AWACS. This unit is a stealth aircraft. Req:Stealth
3. New unit: Airplane can carry diplomatic units. Req:Flight
   • can be expelled by fighter types
   • gains movement points with each new aviation tech
4. New unit: Train. Req:Railroad
   • Commerce unit
   • Cargo/Transport unit. Valid cargo: any unit with <=2 moves, and also balloons
   • Unreachable by pre-gunpowder units
   • Capturable (but not by by pre-gunpowder units)
   • Foot units can load onto Trains on any tile with Load Transport (L)
   • Foot units can disembark by stepping off to an adjacent tile.
     • Except for Marines/AAA, stepping off uses up all move points.
   • Foot units can Unload Transport (T) with no movement penalty:
     • in a Quay, or any type of Base, or in a City
     • if unit is Marines or AAA, can do this on any tile
   • The Train re-balances two major nerfs that Multiplayer-branch rules caused for Foot Soldiers:
     • loss of infinite speed rails made Foot units far less effective, relative to mounted units
     • 2× movement resulted in Foot units reduced by ¼ the "reaction area" as mounted units (A = πr²)
5. Trade is no longer a requirement for making Wonders.
   • Removes the artificial impossibility of making Bronze Age wonders in the Bronze Age.
6. Commerce ships can enter Peaceful waters but cannot attack until a war declaration.
   • This allows Establish Trade Route or Enter Marketplace with nations with whom you're at Peace.
7. Stone Age herds of wild game appear in Grasslands and Forests for first 15 turns (until 2500BC).
   • They provide a temporary food bonus to the tile, but only during the turn they are present.
8. Robotics is now needed for Plastics
   • forces Armor to be required before Armor II is available
9. On average, Fallout lasts around 5 turns before disappearing (20% chance to disappear each turn.)
10. New server setting killcitizen_pct defaults to 60% (was 100%).
    • This setting regulates the chance of a city losing 1 population after losing a battle to certain land units.
    • Improves viability of early game warfare, when most cities are size 3 or less.
11. Ecclesiastical Palace
    • price drop to 90 (was 100).
    • like a Palace, this improvement relocates at random when the city is lost.
12. Agoge of Sparta - price drop to 90 (was 100)
13. Pre-civilized tribes enjoy a +⅓ move bonus. Building your first city eliminates the bonus. (Sedentary culture.)
14. Explorer
    • cost reduced to 25 (was 30)
    • Req changed to Map Making (was Seafaring)
    • slight vision boost from sqrt(4) to sqrt(5): i.e., from 2 tiles to 2.24 tiles.

16. Sea Bridge

• Requires the technology Steel
• Built over Ocean and Lake: (requires Workers/Engineers to be in a transporter ship)
• Acts exactly like a road for Land units to pass over.
• Does not block Sea traffic.
• Does not give any other bonus.
• Must be built cardinally adjacent to a Land tile.
• Railroads and MagLevs may be built on top of it.

Minor/ misc.

1. Freight unit must use and can only use roads.
2. Transporting units can't fortify until unloaded.
3. Bug fixed where Magellan's Expedition didn't give vet bonus to Caravel.

1. The +1/9 "ultra-elite move bonus" for v4+ vet levels starts to take effect in v3 Marines, since v3 is when Commando bonus begins.
2. Clean pollution can be done while units are transported.

Caravel MP2

The release after MP2 Avant-garde and MP2 Brava is MP2 Caravel. "Caravel" is a major upgraded release which has its own documentation.

• MP2-Caravel Design Considerations: Review and Disclosure of the ongoing MP2 Design Process, for MP2-Caravel.

Click below for documentation on MP2-Caravel.

See next:

New changes in Multiplayer II Caravel from MP2 Avant-garde and Brava.